Distributed Systems Software Engineer (WarpStream)

Location: Remote within the United States; listed locations include Poughkeepsie, Lowell, Rochester, Tucson, Research Triangle Park, Armonk, Boston, Bellevue, Atlanta, San Jose, Dallas, Austin, San Francisco, and Seattle. Some travel may be required based on business demand.

Salary: $161,000–$299,000 per year.

Company

IBM Software develops AI-powered, cloud-native products and hybrid-cloud technologies for business and enterprise data platforms.

What you will do

• Drive complex technical projects independently from architecture and design through development and operationalization.
• Build and maintain the WarpStream Apache Kafka-compatible data streaming platform on object storage with zero local disks.
• Develop high-performance, scalable, reliable, and resilient backend services for a BYOC-style product.
• Work across storage engines, multi-tenant control planes, transactions, active-active multi-region clusters, and developer-console UI.
• Troubleshoot complex systems involving microservices, containers, virtualization, and network-level issues.
• Ensure operational readiness and meet customer availability and performance SLA commitments, including on-call support.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree required.
• 5+ years of industry experience designing, building, scaling, and supporting backend systems in production.
• Strong software engineering practices, including code reviews, quality focus, and documentation.
• Strong programming and algorithmic skills with proficiency in a major language such as Java, Go, C/C++, or Python.
• Deep curiosity and enthusiasm for distributed systems and storage systems.
• Strong project delivery and communication skills.
• Experience driving operational excellence for large production services.
• Customer centricity, teamwork, technical leadership, and mentorship skills.

Nice to have

• Master's Degree.
• Experience delivering large-scale, highly available, high-quality systems.
• Hands-on expertise in large-scale systems engineering or distributed systems.
• On-call experience handling critical systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Fully remote work with a geographically distributed team.
• Collaborative, inclusive environment focused on innovation, learning, feedback, and continuous professional development.
• Healthcare, dental, vision, mental health, life insurance, disability coverage, 401(k), pension, and employee stock purchase benefits may be available to eligible employees.
• Paid holidays, sick time, vacation, parental bonding leave, and other paid care leave programs.
• Access to AI-driven learning resources, training, certifications, employee resource groups, volunteer opportunities, and discounts.
• Regular daytime shift; full-time schedule with compensation and benefits based on a full calendar year.